Sand-Throwing Festival in Nara

Nara, Japan, - Feb.11 :A man disguised as a rice paddy farmer throws sand during the annual Sand Throwing Festival at Hirose Shrine in Kawai, Nara Prefecture in western Japan on Feb. 11, 2017. In the festival to pray for bumper rice crops, it is believed that the more spectacularly the sand is scattered, the more rainfall will bless the region, and that festival-goers who are sprinkled with sand will be free from bad luck.